Previous work has shown that the maximum video streaming rate in a peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming system is determined by the video source server's capacity, the number of the peers in the system, and the aggregate uploading capacity of all peers.
In a prior art centralized scheduling method, a coordinator manages the system. The coordinator gathers information regarding the peers' upload capacity and source's upload capacity. The coordinator then computes the transmission rate from the source to each individual peer based on the centralized scheduling method.
The capability to achieve a high streaming rate is desirable for P2P live streaming. A higher streaming rate allows the system to broadcast with better quality. A higher streaming rate also provides more cushion to absorb bandwidth variations caused by peer churn and network congestion when constant bit rate (CBR) video is broadcast. The key to achieve a high streaming rate is to better utilize resources.
It would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for scheduling content delivery in a P2P network which included a priority scheme to deal with new peers joining the P2P network, recovery of missing content and requests for additional content.